Endless summer. Not.

New Haven Free Public Library Art Gallery
133 Elm St., New Haven
Joan Jacobson-Zamore: End of Summer Series
Ends Oct. 14, 2007.

Who wants summer to end? Not me. But end it will, and soon. For those of us dreading the approaching chill, Joan Jacobson-Zamore’s End of Summer Series show of monotypes at the New Haven Free Public Library offers a clutch of color to help ease us into fall. Curated by Johnes Ruta, the exhibit features 15 large prints distinguished by brash brush work and bold color choices.

"In the Garden—Summer Light" is a riot of color. A V-shaped trellis is in the background. A thick-trunked, multi-branched tree occupies the foreground, its ridged bark delineated with squiggles of burgundy, blue, white, brown and green. Zamore takes a gestural approach. Summer’s grace is fleeting. The moment—the visual moment—must be seized with all the immediacy at the artist’s command.

In "Irises in Joan’s Garden," the long tapered leaves reach up from the left bottom corner into the center of the composition. Out of them shoot seven of the bulbous purple flowers. The application of color is charged with energy. It is as if the luscious plant growth is exploding from the nurturing earth.

"Cindy’s Window" is a well-realized interior scene. The centerpiece is a display of five yellow flowers, their undulating green stems tapering into a glass vase. The room around swims in pastel aquamarine and is bathed in warm light through the window in the background.

Several prints portray a single stand of trees. By varying the color and shading, Zamore varies the emotional mood of each. "Blue Monday I" has an overcast feel. "Frightened Trees" is the darker, literally and figuratively. In "Steppin Out for Apple Pickin," the background color is a washed-out orange, the hint of autumn soon to come. "Acid Trees in Downy Glen" has a warm aspect with its pastel pink, orange, powder blue and purple. Because all the trees are bare of foliage, I see an aura of melancholy running throughout this series, notwithstanding the lively coloration.

In capturing her vision of the natural world, Zamore strives to find the essence in the shapes of things: their relationships, their life force. With her unfettered application of color and unwillingness to be constrained by too-literal representation, she rushes that essence to paper with energy intact.

The opening reception for End of Summer Series will be held at the library on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2:30-4:30 p.m.